A printing surface has an image replication medium for printing an image on a substrate. The image replication medium for use in connection with a letterpress or lithographic printing cylinder may include a printing surface wherein ink coated on the printing surface is transferred to the surface of the substrate. Alternatively, the image replication medium may be a plurality of cells or wells in a gravure printing cylinder wherein ink contained in the cells is transferred to the surface of the substrate.
Gravure printing plates are generally produced by a mechanical engraving process wherein image information, which may be optically scanned from a copy or derived from computer memory, is used to direct a diamond stylus to cut a plurality of cells in the surface of the plate. Alternatively, the gravure printing plate may be produced by a chemical etching process.
An offset or lithographic printing plate is generally produced by a process wherein a plate coated with a photopolymer is exposed by suitable light through a film (negative or positive) which contains the image to be printed.
Conventionally, the plate is wrapped around a carrier cylinder. A gap or space is obtained between the ends of the plate that extend the length of the carrier cylinder when the plate is put on the carrier cylinder. This gap causes vibrations as it passes over the substrate that can damage the printing equipment. Furthermore, printing cannot occur at the gap which results in a blank spot on the substrate.
The present invention is directed to a novel method and associated apparatus for producing an image replication medium.